Sunday 20 December 2009

pearl oyster, thornbury

On my recent request for breakfast recommendations, wanting kneading suggested Pearl Oyster, in Thornbury.

Located on the corner of Miller Street and Gilbert Road in Thornbury, it is quite near to some of our friends, so when they suggested a Friday morning breakfast, it seemed the perfect opportunity to try it out! Wanting Kneading implied it was difficult to get to by tram, but actually it is no problem - catch the 112 up and there is a stop right outside.

this sugar is from perth

Like many of the cafes around Melbourne, Pearl Oyster has that quirky miscellaneous feel - spoons and plates that look like they've been scrounged from the op shop or some Nan's collection, old signs, and some text books of such a nature that I fear for any children who took that as the truth.

amazing mushrooms, avocado and dukkha on sourdough

After a small perusal of the menu, and a lot of chatter (and some coffee spillage), I decided to combine together two menu items - the roasted mushrooms on toast with rocket, with the avocado and dukkah on toast. This dish was delicious! The mushrooms were succulent and juicy, and the avocado was just perfect. The dukkah and lemon added a lovely flavour to the overall meal. I could eat another portion just thinking about it!

fruit toast and tofutti cream cheese

D went for the fruit toast with tofutti cream cheese. Although the portion size was quite small, this toast packed a punch! The bread was incredibly flavoursome, and worked perfectly with the tofutti.

J and DB, our companions at breakfast, ordered various eggy things. J was moderately pleased with his lean green eggs, and DB was very happy with his omlette with sambal.

a side of raspberries

Although it was a slightly chilly morning (Melbourne WTH), the sun came out and it was nice to sit in the (no smoking) courtyard, so I ventured inside to check out their cakes on display. To my joy, there were vegan cakes available! I ordered two slices of raspberry coconut cake, which were from Sugardough.

sugardough cake at pearl oyster

We were super pleased by the service, most notably by their thoroughness. The Sugardough cakes had been provided from Sugardough with I forget the name, the silver balls that are used for cake decorating. Our waitstaff noted that these balls usually contain gelatin, and so called Sugardough to check for us (Sugardough, as it turns out, sources these especially so they are vegan). And then they brought us a serve of raspberries to pour all over our cake!

I was really happy with my meal, and the atmosphere was friendly and lovely, and it was a great morning out. I will definitely return, probably for the mushrooms on toast again!

Pearl Oyster
114 Miller St
Thornbury

Closed Tuesdays

GF options available

7 comments:

thebooklender said...

I'm all about spilling coffee. It's part of my anti-coffee agenda. All hail the mighty TEA! (You'd never catch me spilling tea!) But yes, the food was top notch!

Danni said...

And drinking other people's chai!

lisa said...

Those mushrooms look spectacular!

steph said...

dB, I KNEW IT.

Lisa, the mushrooms were delicious! Danni was very jealous at not ordering them! :o)

Anonymous said...

That was me! I was working in the kitchen that day and called up sugardough about the cachous because I knew we had vegans in the house. But I hadn't realised it was you guys otherwise I would have said hihi.
I'm glad you enjoyed the food :)

steph said...

Yay! Thank you for being super observant and making sure it was all vegan for us! I'll let you know next time we go, so you can say hi if you're on. :o) The food was delicious, so there will definitely be a next time.

Theresa said...

That looks great! Raspberries with your cake -- that is the kind of touch that takes a place from good to excellent.